Product Description

Havoc: the Hundred Year's War is a clever, short card game that allows players to attempt to win battles during the Hundred Year's War. It is a game that has roots in the game of Poker, as poker hands - albeit on a different scale - are used to determine the winner of battles during the game. The game allows bluffing and planning ahead with some luck but much strategy in planning ahead. One can surprise their opponents with a killer hand that they've built up or attempt to spread their cards out over the many battles. Havoc allows players to enjoy many of the aspects of Poker without the gambling and high luck, and players can carefully watch their opponents for clues in the cards that they play. Havoc scales well from two to six players and takes only about an hour to play.

The rules are in English and German and can be downloaded in French and Dutch from Sunriver Games.

Product Reviews

1. Appeals to both serious and casual gamers. The poker aspects makes
Havoc immediately engaging and familiar, and the attractive artwork and
theming makes hobby gamers want to jump right in.

2. Portable and quick to get playing. I detest unnecessarily bulky games
with a jillion pieces and long setup times.

3. Quick & easy to teach/learn, but challenging to master.

4. High replay value.

5. Head to head player engagement. No group solitaire please!

6. Fast paced play - no between turns tedium.

Now, to be totally honest, I can think of only one thing I didn't like
about Havoc, and that's sometimes having a ton of cards in your hand at
one time and getting a hand cramp. But hey, that only serves as an
incentive to stop hoarding cards and start playing already (certainly
not enough to lower my rating).

Out of the blue (or out af a sunny river, one might say)
comes a very
enjoyable card game that probably also rides on the wave of
the recent
poker revival, but is so much more....
As any poker player will attest, poker is very often
battle-like in
structure. Like Zhukov or Patton or Wallenstein
you let the enemy in
doubt about your actual strength, and when it's time to
strike you
reveal your full power. Some give up before it comes to this
moment,
and some bluff their way to victory and some win with a
simple pair,
comparable to the victory of the 300 Spartans.

The Hundred Years War is the perfect setting for a
battle-like poker
game, as it was a time of constant upheaval, short periods
of peace
followed by another outbreak of violence. A series of battles is
played to play a full game of “Havoc", each battle gives
different
amounts of victory points to the victor or even 2nd or 3rd
or even 4th
place, while giving different benefits to the player who
actually
started the war (usually drawing more cards than anybody
else). The
cards are numbered 1-18 (when playing with less players the
number of
cards will be reduced) and come in different colours and with
beautiful illustrations taking from original art from the
time period
of the game.

After the "peacekeeper" (or starting player) is
determined by an
ingenious device, a rotating finger that soon will be geek
item no.1,
players take turns either taking cards from the pile (a
selection of
open or face-down cards) or declaring "havoc" and starting a
poker
battle round. The problem is that the longer peace endures
the more
the peacekeeper will profit from it, as he will keep his
cards after
two full turns, whereas the other players have to discard
one card.
The battle will be discarded (if there's peace there is no
battle,
obviously). But this happens rarely, more likely is the cry
of "havoc"
is heard at some point and the game of poker begins. Each
player now
has to place two cards on the table or pass, if s/he passes,
s/he can
take two cards but is out of the round. If you stay in the
game you
have to play another card in front of you (up to a maximum
of 6) or
fold. All cards played are lost... usually, but there are
also "dogs of
war" cards, which prove to be very useful. They can either
retrieve
cards played in a battle (up to a maximum of 2) or be part of a
winning hand (number 0). They also help when drawing cards -
two dogs
can be exchanged for any card from the discard pile, and one
dog can
be exchanged for any open card.

The rank of a played hand follows standard poker rules
with 6 cards,
first come pairs, then simple flushes, then triples etc., up
to a 6
card straight flush, the best combo. Although 6 cards are
the limit
that one can play in a battle, additional dogs of war can be
played to
increase the number of cards up to 8, theoretically.

After the battle the victors get the spoils of war and a
new round
begins, with the winner of the battle becoming the new
peacekeeper.
The final battle is a special affair, as it begins directly
after the
last battle, with only limited ways to improve your hand. Not
surprisingly the final battle gives the most VP's as well...

In this excellent card game players are not playing a
simple poker
game, they play three poker games at once. For a start it is not
always a good idea to always participate in every battle or
to give
your best when doing it. You always have to consider how
your hand
will look AFTER you play the battle, not only winning the battle
itself. This means that your hand (which is unlimited in
number of
cards) is in constant flux, you will find it is a result of
former
battles fought, of what is involved in a present battle and
what you
will have to save in planning for future battles. This makes for
interesting decisions, even sometimes resulting in very
weakly fought
battles as every player holds his best cards back. But if
you fight
too weakly somebody will win the day with a meagre pair, so you
constantly have to look out for the hand management of other
players.
If you have played 3 cards from a 5 card set should you
actually play
the other two cards as well to win safely (if you can) or
should you
instead play two dogs to retrieve at least two of them and
prepare a 4
card set for next round, but then perhaps give another
player the
ultimate victory? The victory points "schedule" of battles
will also
influence your decision - if only the first place gets
points you
probably have to either fold immediately or give all, but if
there are
several tiers of victory you might have to try to always be
involved
with at least a pair for some easy VP's. As many card draws
will be
from a row of open cards you will also be able to outguess other
players plans, also something missing from "normal" poker.

Whatever your tastes in card games are, you will find
"Havoc" to be a
challenging and clever game on it's own that you will want
to play
again and again. There is even an in-game expansion that
adds more
options and abilities to cards, if you ever should get bored
or want
to try out something now.

In my opinion "Havoc" was one of the best new card games
of Essen
2005, and can heartily be recommended to anyone, even if
they HATE
poker (like me).

Explaining the Rules: 10 minutes, basic poker knowledge
required,
otherwise a bit longer
Playing the game: very much depending on the number of players –
anything from 45-70 minutes when playing the "full" game
Brain: is used
Luck: plays a role, but not overly, as there are always
plenty of
cards to choose from
Strategy: required
Tactics: required

I have been following Chris Brook's blog for a couple years
now, as I
consider it one of the best on the web. When I heard that
he and his
fellow gamers were starting a new company and producing a game
designed by one of their own, I was fascinated and couldn't
wait to
see what they put out. The first game, Havoc: the Hundred
Years War
(Sunriver
Games, 2004 -
KC
Humphrey) was well received by the host of
folk who originally played it; and after watching and
reading about
the design process on the internet, I was glad to get a copy
of my own.

Havoc definitely has roots in the game of Poker, as poker
hands,
albeit on a different scale, are used to determine the winner of
battles during the game. But while I merely think poker is
a ho-hum
affair (I know that poker players are reading this with
askance), I
found Havoc to be a clever game - one I enjoyed greatly.
While using
some mechanics of poker that I liked - the hand rankings and the
bluffing, much of the luck has been eliminated, and players
can better
control their games. Havoc demands that players know what
battles to
get involved with, and which to avoid, and the best player
will most
likely win each game. Havoc is a clever, short card game
that is easy
to teach and play, and one that will suggest over poker any
time.

A large deck of cards, in six suits, is shuffled with the
number of
cards in each suit determined by number of players (from
eight - with
two players, to eighteen - with six players). Each player
is given
one special "Dog" card, and then is dealt seven cards from
the deck.
Another "dog" card for each player is shuffled into the
deck, which is
then placed face down near the board with three cards face
up in a
"Recruits" area. Nine cards are placed in the middle of the
table, in
order - each representing a battle from the Hundred Years
War. Some
of these cards have victory point chips associated with
them, which
are placed with the corresponding battles. One player is
chosen to be
the "Peacekeeper", and is given a Havoc/Peace card. That
player takes
the first turn, and then play proceeds clockwise.

On a player's turn, they either recruit troops or cry
Havoc! to start
a battle. When recruiting troops, they must draw two cards
to their
hand, either from the face up recruits area, and/or the
discard pile.
If the recruit area is full (four or five - depending on
players),
then the player must draw one from there. The player then must
discard one card from their hand back to the recruit area.
During
recruiting, a player may also discard one Dog card to take an
additional card from the recruit area or the draw pile. The
player
may also discard two dogs, and then search the discard pile
and take
one non-dog card from it.

If it is the peacekeeper's turn, they must rotate the
peace card one
turn to show that a year of peace has occurred. If they
rotate the
card, and there is no higher number to rotate it to, they
remove the
lowest battle card from the game, and all other players must
discard a
card from their hand.

If a player cries "Havoc!" on their turn, a battle
starts. The
calling player takes the Havoc/Peace card and places it
Havoc side up,
showing that a war for the lowest numbered battle card is
underway.
The player then must play at least two cards from their hand
as the
start of their "Battle Hand". Each player, in order, must
then either
join the battle by playing two or more cards from their hand
on the
table, or by refraining from the battle, in which case they
draw a
card from the draw pile into their hand and are out of the
battle.
Meanwhile, players still in the battle must add at least one
card on
their turn (up to a maximum of six cards in their Battle
Hand), or
pass, "locking" in their Battle Hand. Once all players have
passed,
the Battle hands are compared. Hands are similar to poker
hands, with
seventeen different rankings, from the highest: a six card
straight
flush, to the lowest: a high single card. All Dog cards
have a value
of "0", but are "wild" when it comes to color. The player
who has the
best hand gets to keep the Battle card, earning the points
printed on
it. Players who are in second or third place may also get
some points
if they are indicated on the battle card. These players
take the
matching victory point chips for the amount they won.
Players may use
Dog cards that are in the Battle hand to retrieve cards from
the table
(if they didn't use the Dog card as part of their ranking).

After the battle, players discard all played cards, with
the winner
of the battle following the action listed on the battle card
(usually
gives the person who cried Havoc an extra card, sometimes
everyone an
extra card.) The winner also becomes the new Peacekeeper,
turning the
card over to the Peace side, and starting the next turn. Play
continues until the eighth battle concludes - at which point
the ninth
battle immediately begins (after all players are dealt two
more cards,
and players may exchange up to two dogs for the same number
of cards
from the draw deck.), with players making the best card that
they can
with their remaining cards. After the final battle
concludes, players
then total their points, and the player with the most points
is the
winner!

Some comments on the game...

1.) Components: First of all, I simply love the box.
It's a long,
thin box that has three compartments to hold the cards, and
then has a
lid that closes firmly, holding everything into place. It's
excellent
packaging that holds the cards in well, no matter which way
the box is
stored on the shelf. The cards themselves are of good quality
(although I would have picked white borders over black).
Each suit is
a different color with a symbol next to the number to help
differentiate for the color blind. The different numbers
have ancient
medieval artwork on them, as well as some flavor text about the
picture. The victory point tiles are feasible, and
everything stores
away easily and quickly in the box, covered with yet more
medieval
artwork.

2.) Rules: The rulebook, long and thin like the box, is
eleven pages
of rules, although these contain a full two pages of a play
example,
pictures, and tips. Teaching the game to people already
familiar with
poker hands is quite easy, they simply have to learn the easy
mechanics that have been added. Even people who never have
played
poker won't have too much of a problem. My wife knows
nothing about
poker, but with the aid of a reference card that showed the
battle
hand rankings, and some explanation of what a flush and
straight were,
easily learned how to play the game. I've taught the game
to several
groups - all who quickly picked up on both strategies and
the rules.

3.) Strategies: Knowing which battles to win, and which
to pass on
are critical. In my first game, I won as many early battles
as I
could; but this caused me to lose most of the cards from my
hand, so
that when the big point battles occurred, I had nothing to
play and
lost out on a lot of points. At the same time, if a player
skips the
early battles, they may allow their opponents to gain points
for only
a few cards. One needn't always play "6 of a kind" to win a
battle,
they simply need to play better than the next player.

4.) Tactics: Watching what other players discard can
give clues to as
what is in the hand, and watching what cards they take can
help you
know what they will play later on. Bluffing is still an
aspect in
this game, but players will have partial information about other
players' hands, which allows them to make spot decisions.
Learning
how to use the Dog cards is also critical. Having a wild
zero to use
in a Battle Hand is nice, but retrieving a card from a
battlefield
could be much nicer. I like how hands are played slowly -
only a bit
at a time. Why play four of a kind, when three of a kind
will do? Is
second place worth it, if it allows me to keep most of my
good cards?
These decisions, which change from battle to battle, keep
Havoc fresh
and interesting. And someone always ends up singing "Who
let the Dogs
Out?", or some other song?

5.) Luck: There is a decent amount of luck in the game -
but not
enough to totally influence the outcome of the game, I
think. Yes,
it's nice to draw six "14" cards; but if you throw them all
away in
one battle, did it really do you that much good? The
biggest luck
factor in the game comes from the cards drawn right before
the final
battle. But every player knows about this and can plan
accordingly.
Sure, there's some luck - which in my opinion is nice - but
not too much.

6.) Theme: There aren't too many games about the Hundred
Years War,
and this one does a good job printing information about each
battle on
the reverse of each battle card and the flavor text on the
regular
cards. But still, it's simply a card game, and the theme is
pasted
on. EXCEPT, the dogs of war, with their special powers,
certainly fit
into the theme well and help translate the "poker" hands
into battle
formations. But really, in the midst of the game, we forget
all about
the theme and concentrate solely on the numbers.

7.) Interaction: The Peasant can affect the Banker, the
Merchant
affects the Peasant, etc. This, to me, was an excellent
feature of
the game. Players were not playing in separate mini games;
rather
they were different players in one larger game, and the fact
that
Peasants and merchants could participate in auctions, and
play cards
to negatively affect the Banker

8.) Fun Factor: Havoc provides the sort of fun that I
most enjoy from
a lighter game such as this - a game that provides strategic
decisions, while allowing you to surprise the enemy with a
killer
hand. Unlike Poker, where I have to wait for that hand -
and then
perhaps never get to play it - in Havoc, I can build up that
great
hand, and then play it with a flourish. Think it's fun
playing four
of a kind? Try playing six of a kind - it's immensely
satisfying.
And when my wife won the final battle with a six card
straight flush,
we all had to bow to her greatness. She had fun.

If you like poker, and/or are looking for a medium light
card game
that allows bluffing and planning, then Havoc is a good
choice. For
me, it's an excellent entry into the market by Mr.
Humphrey, and I'm
excited to see what will come from him further down the
pike. I'm not
a gambling man, and many people insist that poker is only
fun with
money - I don't play with funds, so poker merely seems okay
to me.
But Havoc is fun regardless and allows me to bluff, plan
strategically, and make quick, easy choices. Fun in a thin
box.

The object of Havoc is to gain victory points
through ascendance through the play of Poker-like
hands in a series of nine battles of the Hundred
Years War.

Havoc is overall an interesting & well-designed
card game. Its extension of Poker to include card
drafting and other mechanics makes for a more
varied and more strategic game than the old classic.

The strategic element is worth briefly dwelling on
because it offers a lot of variety. You have to
constantly decide whether to push ahead in a
battle, or just sit back and save your resources
for later conflicts. As with a majority-control
game you can decide whether to go for a couple of
first places or a larger smattering of seconds.
This is all made richer and more interesting by
the inclusion of bluffing.

There's some interesting tactics too, centered on
when to call "Havoc!", when to recruit cards, when
to try and keep good cards from other players and
when to purposefully feed them. (In our review
game one player purposefully created a nice pair
in the recruit area to encourage players to draw
rather than call Havoc. This tactic worked and
caused the 8th battle to be discarded for a Year
of Peace. The player in question had a weak hand
at the time, but as a result of his machinations
he was weak only for the 9th and final battle,
rather than for the last two. He won by a single
point and would probably have lost that advantage
if there had been an eighth battle.)

It's worth mentioning again that Havoc isn't just
Poker, but instead Poker with enough additional
elements to make it truly enjoyable to a heavier
strategy gamer.

There are some sharp edges in Havoc. This is
pretty common for a first-time game from an indy
company, and if anything I'm impressed that
they're relatively few.

I find the 6-card Poker hands a little over
complex. I personally would have preferred a
5-card Poker hand. As it was all the players had
to pretty frequently consult the informational
cards to remember the 17 ranks (or at least the
non-standard ones).We'd probably get it after a
few more games.

Beyond that I thought that the Dogs of War offered
the one element of non-elegance in the game. The
different ways that they work (and the fact that
you can put them outside of the Battle) confused
most of the players (and indeed confused me after
reading the rules until I really sat down and
looked at how it was all supposed to work).

Still, on the whole Havoc is a well-designed,
strategic, and elegant game.

[This is excerpted from a longer review at RPGnet.]

by
Greg J. Schloesser

Pokeresque, but with enough new twists to make it interesting

November 03, 2010

Designer: K.C. Humphrey
Publisher: SunRiver Games
3 – 6 Players, 45 minutes – 1 hour
Review by: Greg J. Schloesser
NOTE: This review was first published in Knucklebones magazine
Sunriver Games is yet another entry into the burgeoning field of game publishers.
Their first release is Havoc: The Hundred Years War, a poker-style card game wherein
players vie to win various battles during the Hundred Years War. The game is
designed by K.C. Humphries, who apparently has numerous other projects in the
works. I wonder if Sunriver Games will be his exclusive outlet, sort of how Warfrog
is the publishing house for designer Martin Wallace?
The comparison to poker is inescapable. Players gather cards and attempt to form
poker-like hands (pairs, three or four-of-a-kind, straights, full houses, etc.),
which will be used in the ensuing battles. A significant difference is that a hand
consists of six cards as opposed to the standard five-card poker hand. Further,
cards are not revealed all at once, but rather are played in a piecemeal fashion,
with players continuing or dropping out as the card-playing cycle continues around
the table. This is similar to many card-driven games, including Condotierre and Taj
Mahal. Indeed, the entire game consists of mechanisms lifted from other titles, and
there is little very original here. Still, the blending of these mechanisms does
result in a pleasing game.
The deck consists of six suits, each with values ranging from 1 – 18. Less are used
if playing with fewer players. The deck also contains some “Dogs of War” cards,
whose special powers I’ll explain in a bit. Nine battles will be fought, and
victory points earned for winning the battle, which is accomplished by playing the
best hand. In some cases, points are also earned for finishing second or third in a
battle. After nine battles, the player with the most accumulated victory points
rules the day … and wins the game.
Game play is actually quite easy. Players begin with seven regular cards and
one “dog”. Three cards are revealed from the deck to form a drafting row
(“recruiting area” in game parlance). One player is assigned the “Havoc / Peace”
card, and the game begins.
A player has two and only two choices on his turn: Recruit Troops or Cry Havoc.
1) Recruit Troops. Easy: draw two cards, either from the recruiting area or
the face-down deck, then discard one card from your hand into the recruiting area.
If there are five cards in the recruiting area, then a player must draw at least one
card from there to facilitate the discarding of a card.
2) Cry Havoc. If a player feels confident in his hand of cards, he can “Cry
Havoc” and begin the next battle. The active player must play at least two cards to
open the battle, and in order to join the fight, each player must also play at least
two cards. If a player opts to sit this battle out, then he may draw one card into
his hand.
The cycle continues, with players adding one or more cards to their played cards, or
withdrawing from the battle. Eventually, play ceases when those remaining have
played a maximum of six cards. The best hand is then determined, and that player
wins the battle. First place points range from a low of 5 points for the Battle of
Ciecy, to a whopping 11 points for victory in the Battle of Castillion. As
mentioned, some battles award second and third place points as well.
The winner of the battle executes the special award granted by the battle.
Interestingly, the benefits, generally an extra card or two, are usually enjoyed by
the player who called “Havoc”, and not necessarily the victor of the battle. This
encourages players to call “Havoc”, as opposed to endlessly collecting cards.
Dogs may be played as part of one’s hand of six cards, in which case they can be any
suit desired. They may also be played outside of the hand, where they are not
considered when determining the strength of one’s hand. After the battle, a player
may surrender one dog card to take a card from the table, either one played during
the battle or from the recruiting area. Two dogs may be played, allowing the player
to sort through the discard pile and abscond with a card of his choice.
In addition to the extra card or two earned by the “Havoc” caller, the game
includes a mechanism which serves to progress the game to a timely conclusion:
the “Havoc / Peace” card. If two rounds pass without anyone calling “Havoc”, the
next battle is discarded, and each player must discard one card. So, players who
are behind in the victory point tally will have an incentive to open a battle so
they can compete for needed points.
Nine battles are fought – less if battles were removed due to the reluctance of
players to call “Havoc” – after which players tally their victory points to
determine the victor. An entire game, even with six players, generally lasts an
hour or so. It never seems to drag, and usually several of the battles are quite
tense. The game has a “chicken” feel to it, as players are frequently forced to
decide when to withdraw from battles and when to go for victory, no matter the
cost. This is the same type of tension that is present in Taj Mahal.
The cost of remaining in battles can be significant. If the fight is prolonged,
this will sap cards from a player’s hand, leaving it depleted. Since a player can
only keep one card per round, it takes quite some time to re-arm for a subsequent
battle. The lesson to be learned is to pick one’s battles carefully, and know when
to withdraw and settle for second or third place points.
I quite enjoy Havoc, and do enjoy the tidbits of historical information on the
cards. While there is nothing really original here, the final mixture is
entertaining. That is high praise from someone who doesn’t enjoy poker!

Other Resources for Havoc: The Hundred Years War:

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